Malaysia: July industrial output slows down to 1.2%, below forecast

• Sep 11, 2019

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s industrial production index (IPI) expanded by 1.2% in July, which was slower than a Bloomberg forecast of a 3.1% increase.

Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin the growth in July was driven by the increase in the index of the manufacturing (4%) and electricity (2%) segements. However, the index of mining recorded a decline of 8.4%.

The manufacturing sector output grew at a faster pace of 4% in July 2019 after recording a growth of 3.8% in June.

Mohd Uzir said the major sub-sectors contributing to the increase in July 2019 were electrical and electronics products (4.9%); petroleum, chemical, rubber and plastic products (3.4%) and non-metallic mineral products, basic metal and fabricated metal products (4.4%).

As for the electricity sector, output increased by 2% in July 2019 on-year.

However, the mining sector index fell by 8.4% in July 2019 from a year ago.

The decline was due to the decrease in the crude oil and condensate index (-22.7%). The natural gas index increased by 7.3%.

Source: https://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2019/09/11/july-industrial-output-slows-down-to-12-below-forecast#zsdkhLxFsxer7rcS.99